Denise Rowley Hunt and family leave Assumption Church after a funeral for her husband, former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Denise Rowley Hunt and family leave Assumption Church after a funeral for her husband, former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Football helmets line the stairs of Assumption Church during a funeral for former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Football helmets line the stairs of Assumption Church during a funeral for former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Phyliss Uberti Hunt is consoled as family and friends leave Assumption Church after the funeral for her son, former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Phyliss Uberti Hunt is consoled as family and friends leave Assumption Church after the funeral for her son, former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Mourners gather at Assumption Church after a funeral for former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Mourners gather at Assumption Church after a funeral for former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Family leaves Assumption Church after a funeral for former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Family leaves Assumption Church after a funeral for former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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John J. Hunt III, center, and family leave Assumption Church after a funeral for his dad, former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

John J. Hunt III, center, and family leave Assumption Church after a funeral for his dad, former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Pallbearers carry the casket of former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt after a funeral mass at Assumption Church in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Pallbearers carry the casket of former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt after a funeral mass at Assumption Church in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Pallbearers carry the casket of former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt after a funeral mass at Assumption Church in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Pallbearers carry the casket of former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt after a funeral mass at Assumption Church in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Mourners gather at Assumption Church after a funeral for former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Mourners gather at Assumption Church after a funeral for former Ansonia High School football coach Jack Hunt in Ansonia, Conn. on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Ansonia bids goodbye to Jack Hunt

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ANSONIA -- Raising their battered blue helmets up high, 28 members of the Ansonia High football team saluted Jack Hunt, their school's legendary football coach, who brought seven state championships to this city of 19,000.

"He was a big influence in my life," said Jamar Kelly, a 38-year-old former player watching the procession outside. "He was the closest thing I had to a father figure."

Kelly, who now works for the state Department of Mental Retardation, said he finds himself preaching to his children and his youth football players everything he learned from Hunt.

In 19 years as Ansonia High's head football coach, Hunt compiled 193 victories before retiring in 2005.

He died following a six-month battle with esophageal cancer about an hour before the traditional Thanksgiving Day game against Naugatuck.

But long before he became a legendary coach at the school, Hunt, who stood 6 foot 7 inches and weighed 275 pounds, was a legendary player as a football lineman, a basketball center and a track shot putter who still holds the school record.

Standing on the church steps, Tom McQueeney, the school's retired longtime basketball coach, watched the casket of his former center carried to the hearse.

"Jack was my first captain," said McQueeney, now 74. "Right away I could tell he was a terrific leader. He and Della Volpe took us to the state tournament my first year."

"I could tell that one day he could make a tremendous coach." So eventually McQueeney handed him the reins to the freshman basketball program.

But first Hunt would go to Wichita State University to play football following his 1965 graduation. There, he honed his playing and probably his coaching skills under Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells, two young assistants who later became Super Bowl-winning coaches. After college, Hunt returned to Ansonia, began working for the school system where his mother, Phyllis, was a cafeteria worker and eventually took up coaching. In addition to football and basketball, he added golf, track and softball to his resume.

On Sunday at least 800 family, friends, former players and city officials attended the wake, which Robert Ricciuti, owner of the Spinelli-Ricciuti Funeral Home, arranged to have at the Church of the Assumption. Surrounding Hunt's casket that night were his Wichita State football helmet, trophies, game balls and a glass-encased Ansonia High jersey with 193 wins embroidered into it.

On Monday, 500 people crammed into Church of the Assumption, where white and blue carnations forming large A's were displayed on the right while to the left sat members of the varsity football team in their numbered blue and white jerseys.

Attendees included Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti who played basketball against Hunt at the Shelton Boys' and Girls' Club years ago, and Tony Piccolo, Ansonia's athletic director.

"Whenever we are confronted with death, we are necessarily confronted with grief," Condron said. "Grief is caused by love ... Jack indeed was a loving person, who cared for his family, all of his friends ... and all of the players he coached."

The pastor said Hunt instilled "confidence" and "responsibility" in his teams but not just in the way they played football but how they lived their lives.

That's something Andre Holeman, who came to Ansonia a foster child and ended up a key player on the 1986 state championship team, attests.

"I became a better person because of him," said Holeman, now 44, living in New Haven and working as a machine operator. "All the things he preached: "keep your head up," "stay focused," "stay out of trouble," became important to me later. He, Coach Lisi and Coach Della Volpe took me in and showed me the way. And forever, I'll be grateful."

John Hunt, III, the coach's eldest son, whose size and facial expressions mirror his dad's, gave the eulogy. He said his father "went peacefully" at 9:41 Thanksgiving morning, surrounded by family.

"I guess he wanted to get over to that game," said the younger Hunt, a former all-state tight end.

That game was the traditional battle with Naugatuck, which often meant a Naugatuck Valley League title and a berth in the state playoffs.

A number of former players and coaches tapped the casket as it sat outside, then stepped away, shaking hands with teammates and brushing away a tear.

"It was a fitting tribute for the biggest guy Ansonia has ever seen," said Della Volpe, the city's mayor and Hunt's former teammate.